Tech in Motion: Boston hosted a great panel discussion at Workbar in Cambridge on Wednesday, September 18th. With the football season starting, the team was interested in the idea of how technology is finding its way into the realm of sports. The team was able to find a great mix of Boston startups all with the focus of bringing sports and technology together in a new way.
Ready to discuss were five local startups from the Boston area. There was Alex Pedicini, Community Manager at Ubersense, a mobile app that allows athletes to improve their game through state-of-the-art video analysis technology. Arian Radmand is the Co-Founder and CTO CoachUp, an app for coaches to help athletes across all sports, ages, and levels take their game to the next level. Kash Razzaghi is the CEO at Fancred, a new social network that provides a personalized way for sports fans to communicate, discover, and consume their favorite sports content. There was Jason MacInnes, CTO at DraftKings, an online fantasy sports company with a 1-day Fantasy Sports Contest, where users compete against each other to win cash prizes. Justin Mendelson, the Founder and CEO at HackFit, a company promoting a different way of thinking for entrepreneurs and startups that reflect a balance of healthy living and innovation, also presented. Our moderator for the event was Kevin Scott, Senior Director of Advanced Development in the Emerging Tech Group for ESPN.
The panel held a relaxed and open discussion based around questions Kevin had prepared for the group. From how they marketed the products to the struggles they faced, the panelist gave great insight into the journey of a startup. The struggles of being mobile, how to “choose the right tool for the job”, and the balance of developing within your own company or outsourcing in order to create the best product were just some of the topics discussed. Right away, a word thrown around was passion. Each panelist felt that “passion” was something that is needed for the success of a startup. You need a dedicated group of people, dedicated not only to the company and its values, but to producing good products. This can help a startup shine. But Justin from Hackfit warns that too much passion for the perfection of a product can hinder your success, “don’t be afraid to test your product and tell people about your ideas. Explore your market and find out what works.”
As far as combining tech and sports, these panelists felt that the two are something that go well with each other, as long as the union is done correctly. Sports are a huge part of many peoples' lives, and these panelists aren't trying to change the way that people interact with sports. Instead, they wish to enhance it. As Kash from Fancred puts it “[we] hope to create a technology that integrates with your experience so well that you forget the product is even there." All the panelists agree that there is a bright future for this new integration within sports, and hope that their products can thrive and grow.
The panel ended with some final thoughts and advice. Arian from Coach up advised the crowd to “not keep your ideas to yourself, tell everyone and anyone that you meet, the more opinions you have the better decisions you can make." Justin from Hackfit ended the panel with the idea of being a magnet when wanting to begin a startup, “The key to becoming a magnet is bringing people to you, instead of seeking out people, have them want to come to you. Run forums, create meet ups and become an expert on what it is that you want to create.”
If you were one of our attendees leave us a comment and let us know your favorite part of the night, we’d love to hear from you.
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